Military staff are a mainstay of Derriford Hospital in Plymouth
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Derriford Hospital in Plymouth is struggling to meet waiting list targets after losing staff to the war in Iraq.
Half of the Ministry of Defence's 180 medical staff at the hospital have now been called up for service.
Derriford has 6,000 staff and just under half are doctors or nurses.
Latest figures show that fewer patients were dealt with in January because so many staff were missing from the hospital.
Operations postponed
Derriford is one of six hospitals across the UK with military personnel working on its wards.
A report being considered by the hospital's board on Thursday said the departure of military staff had already meant some problems.
It said meeting government targets designed to cut waiting times by the end of the month would be "extremely challenging".
Extra effort is being made to improve waiting times for plastic surgery and to help orthopaedic patients.
Managerial staff are also being drafted back onto the wards.
Some routine operations have already been postponed.
The hospital, which has also been affected by the Norwalk virus, has been reducing waiting lists in areas such as ultrasound, where extra funding has helped it achieve improvements.
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